Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 HOBBS, N.M. – After sweeping University of the Southwest in a 16-inning doubleheader Friday at Wilder Field, Wayland Baptist went to Hobbs on Sunday afternoon and took two more from the Mustangs, winning 13-4 and 8-1 in a pair of seven-inning contests.
Wayland (9-3), which won on Friday, 2-0 and 9-1, never trailed the entire series against USW (2-6).
In Sunday's opener, the Pioneers scored seven runs in the second inning and five more in the third to roar to a 12-0 lead. Wayland wound up with 16 hits with six players –
Will Bass,
Aaron Vallance,
Jake Doyle,
Ernesto Lizardi,
Brayden Blackwell and
Austin Davis – getting two apiece.
Gregg Veneklasen wound up with four RBI while Blackwell got three. Bass, Vallance,
Taylor Grady (Lizardi's courtesy runner) and Blackwell each scored twice.
Mason Taylor (2-1) picked up the win, allowing three runs on six hits with one walk.
Kevin Torres earned his first save of the season, pitching the final three frames when he gave up a run on two hits with one strikeout and a walk.
Sunday's second game was closer but never too much in doubt either as the Pioneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. They tacked on five more in the fifth and another in the seventh to assume an 8-0 advantage.
The Mustangs avoided what would have been their second shutout of the series when, like in game two Friday, they scored in their final at-bat.
Sophomore
Jordie Henry (2-0) was sharp on the mound, recording nine strikeouts as he blanked the Mustangs over six innings on five hits and two walks. Senior closer
Logan Evans gave up an unearned run when he issued a hit and two walks with the help of a passed ball and Wayland's lone error of the game, though Evans ultimately struck out the side to end it.
The Pioneers tallied a dozen hits this go-round, including three by catcher
Skyler Wood and two each by
Alex Mumm and
Ethan Percell. Mumm, Davidson and Wood all had two RBI, and Vallance and
Austin Hogan (Wood's courtesy runner) both scored twice.
Wayland returns to Wilder Field for a four-game series against Peru State (Neb.) next weekend. Doubleheaders start at 2 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. The series will mark the first games of the season for the Bobcats, who split with Wayland in Plainview last season when Peru State advance to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round and finished with a 39-16 record.
